St. Francis Xavier University Men's Basketball

Konchalski  enters into his 42nd season as X-Men basketball head coach. On Nov. 6, 2009, Coach K achieved his 735th career victory as head coach of the StFX X-Men, thus becoming the winningest coach in Canadian University Sport history. This culminated an extremely successful past decade, as the blue & white captured 6 AUS championship titles, along with back-to-back CIS national championship titles in 2000 and 2001. The CIS Coach of the Year in 2001, Steve previously led the X-Men to the schools first national title in 1993. Over his 41 year career, Canadas Coach K has accumulated 860 career wins and led the team to 38 appearances in the AUS playoffs. As a player, this native of Elmhurst, NY (Archbishop Molloy HS) also led Acadia University to a National title in 1965 as he was chosen tournament MVP. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Acadia and an LL.B. from Dalhousie Law School. Internationally, Steve served for 16 years as Assistant Coach of Canadas National Team (including three Olympic Games) and was Head Coach of Team Canada for four years (1995-98). He has been inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, the StFX Sports Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame. In 1999 he was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Frank Baldwin Memorial Award for dedication to basketball in Nova Scotia. Steve was the 2010 recipient of the CIS Jean-Marie De Koninck Coaching Excellence Award, presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to university sport as demonstrated by longterm commitment and leadership as a coach at the local, provincial national and/or international levels of Canadian university sport. Steve coached the Nova Scotia Junior Mens team for three summers, including the 2001 Canada Games squad. He has authored a book entitled Silver to Gold in which he chronicles the back-to-back National Championships that spanned his 25th year at StFX. In 2009 Steve was named to Canada Basketballs Counsel of Excellence, serving as an advisor to the National Team and mentoring the younger coaches in the program. This past summer, he was Mentor Coach with the Junior Mens National Team at the World Championships in the Czech Republic, his 25th summer working with the National Team program. He and his wife, Charlene, have three grown children, Chris, Julianne, and Maria.

Bio Coach Vernon is in his 5th season as Head Coach of the X-Men Basketball program. He joined the X-Men and X-Women Basketball coaching staff as an associate coach in April, 2019 and succeeded long-time head coach Coach Konchalski as the head coach of the X-Men basketball program at the completion of the 2020-21 season. The 2023 AUS Coach of the Year, he led the X-Men to the AUS championship title and a U SPORTS silver medal. Coach Vernon was an assistant coach with the Scarborough Shooting Stars who won the 2023 CEBL championship, and in 2024 was the head coach of the CEBL's Calgary Surge.  Vernon played with the X-Men for two seasons in 2011-12 and 2012-13, having been a key part of the squad that won a U SPORTS bronze medal in 2012. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, having previously played at McMaster University. He went on to play with the Mississauga Power of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) and was also the 2013 North of the Border Basketball League (NBBL) most valuable player and champion with Team 905. The NBBL features elite semi-pro and post-secondary basketball players from Southern Ontario. In the Nike Crown League in Toronto, an annual five-week pro-am basketball tournament that brings together some of Canada's top collegiate, and pro talent, Vernon was a 2016 champion as a player/coach with Team ACE. He also was head coach of Team TopSzn, the finalists at the 2017 OVO Bounce tournament, another elite pro-am basketball tournament in Toronto. Vernon was the head coach of the boys basketball team at The RISE Centre (TRC Academy), a prep school in Brantford, Ont. from 2016-2019, enjoying many successes. Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association (OSBA) finalists in 2017, Vernon led the team to back-to-back OSBA championships in 2018 and 2019. He was also named the 2019 OSBA Coach of the Year and lent his coaching talents to the Nike Bounce Team in the Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) as the U17 head coach.